DIY Wedding

Sun-Printed Wedding Invitations

Despite my initial instinct that a DIY Bride is a crazy bride, this spring, I made my wedding invitations using cyanotype (aka sun print) paper. The wedding was in a seaside town, so I wanted something that evoked a beachy, sun-washed feel (ironically, it poured rain on the big day!).

With the help of a graphic designer friend, I designed two Photoshop templates—one for the reply card and one for the invitation—decorated with some sea shells from a Dover Editions clip art CD-ROM. Then at Kinko's, I had the templates xeroxed onto transparencies—effectively turning them into negatives.

Next, I exposed each piece of paper to the sun under the negative (about 90 seconds per page), then "developed" them in a bath of water. When the sun prints were dry, I attached them to flat A7 and 4-bar cards in Bluebell from Paper Source. The coolest part of it (aside from saving a ton of money) was that each invitation was unique, because of variations in the exposure time, the weather the day it was exposed, or how I handled it in developing.

Comments (9)

diane10g writes: Hi sbreken! I know you posted this nearly 2 years ago! But if you see this - I need help! Where did you purchase your sun paper? Did you have any issues with finding the right size sheets?

Also, what did you use to affix the sun paper to your Bluebell cards?!! Glue stick? Or other... ?

Thanks!
Diane
Posted: 7:46 am on June 25th

smithking writes: What a unique and fun way to make it personal. I can't wait to play with this "sun print" paper.
Posted: 1:56 pm on November 8th

swelldesigner writes: what a neat concept and a twist on traditional paper crafts.
Posted: 9:13 pm on July 29th

sbreckenridge writes: Thanks! I made about a hundred of each--though the reply cards went faster because I could do two at a time. The printing was actually pretty fun; the most tedious part was centering the sun-print paper right in the middle of the cards. That was the only part where I started to question my sanity a little bit. I pretty much did them all myself, but I'd definitely recommend recruiting help for the cut-and-paste phase. Oh, a rotary paper cutter was also a godsend for these.
Posted: 3:52 pm on July 18th

delilahiris writes: Wow this is a really cool idea. Very unique!
Posted: 8:47 am on July 18th

MaeveQ writes: LOVE! But for real, how many did you have to make? I am getting married next year and I have definite DIY bride fear. I feel like 'I could make a dip for the reception' but that's it. Yet , I love it when other brides DIY. Maybe just maybe? Did you have much help? Thanks.
Posted: 7:44 pm on July 17th

crafty_gal writes: WOW! I am super impressed. How many did you have to make?
Posted: 7:37 pm on July 17th

OnePrettyThing writes: Wow sbreken, these are fabulous! I am SO linking to these! Your wedding must have been so fun-despite the rain! Crafty brides are the best!
Posted: 6:53 pm on July 17th

jodied writes: that's awesome Sarah! sounds a bit tedious unless you are doing 10! was it? I will definitely have to try this (for a SMALL dinner party!)
Posted: 2:55 pm on July 17th